Mark Williams

Mark Fraser Williams (born March 24, 1966) is a British Welsh Liberal Democrat politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ceredigion constituency, a seat he gained from Plaid Cymru in 2005. He sits on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and in 2006 he became a Shadow Minister for Wales under Menzies Campbell.

Mark Williams is a graduate of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Plymouth, and was Deputy Headteacher of a school in Llangorse near Brecon before becoming an MP.

Early life

Mark Williams was born in Hertfordshire on 24 March 1966. His mother worked as a classroom assistant, and his father ran a printing business. He has two older sisters. He attended the local village primary school and then Richard Hale Secondary School, Hertford, from where he moved on to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1984 to study politics. It was at school during the days of the SDP-Liberal Alliance that he become involved in Liberal politics, later saying:
:"I instinctively knew I wasn’t a Conservative, despite coming from a formally conservative family and the Labour Party was in perpetual decline."

Political career

Within a week of arriving in Aberystwyth, Williams became secretary of the student group and had met local Liberal MP Geraint Howells. After graduating, he became a part-time researcher to the Liberal Peers in the House of Lords, Williams is the first non Welsh-speaking Member of Parliament to represent the constituency since the widening of the electoral franchise in 1867. In 2010, Williams substantially increased his majority, winning just over 50% of the vote; this was the first time any candidate had won more than 50% of the vote in Ceredigion since 1959.

He has called for Saint David's Day to be made a public holiday.

Mr Williams is taking forward a private member’s bill with the backing of a leading charity to ensure children enjoy 21st century standards of protection. It will amend the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 because it only covers physical harm and does not cover psychological neglect.> The bill is backed by Action for Children. >

Family life
Mark Williams and his wife Helen have four children, Eleanor, Anna, and twins Eliza and Oliver who were born December 23, 2005. Both Mark and Helen Williams are confirmed members of the Church of England, and their children have been christened into the church. The family live together in Borth, near Aberystwyth.